Sweater #3 – Learning Patience

So I have a backlog of stuff to blog about, and now that MacB has closed, it seems more likely that it will appear on theses pages soon.

I finished this sweater about two weeks ago – the pattern is Dahlia from Knitty. The pattern was designed by a freshman in high school. This puts me to shame, so I decided to design my next sweater myself to show those uppity high schoolers.

I partly chose this sweater because I though on size 8 needles, it would be a quick knit. Famous last words.

While I did finish the sweater in under 6 weeks, I had to restart this thing 5 times.

Why, you may ask – well first the raglan was an ill-explained Right Lifted Increase/Left Lifted increase. Which when I finally figured out with the help of my knitting circle (hint: when doing the left lifting increase – don’t grab the stitch you just made) makes a very very pretty raglan increase line – so it was worth the trouble – but this was an exercise in patience.

I also ignored the cries of “the thing’s too big!” on Ravelry and cast on in my designated size, which by the time I hit the chest portion I realized was huge even though my gauge matched perfectly, so it got unwound for the 5th and final time.I also decided to move up the neckline an inch or so – because it was a tad low for me. After that point, though, the thing was a breeze and I enjoyed teaching myself to do the cables without a needle.

I totally have no patience when it comes to wearing stuff I make, so these photos are all of the unblocked (gasp!) sweater. And perhaps in punishment for my impatience – the blocked version looks about 20% better than it does in the above pictures. Another lesson learned.

I’d like to say it’s too warm to wear it now, it being after Memorial Day and all, but alas it is currently 49°F in Chicago. Le sigh…